Golf Psychology

Page Contents:

Power of the Mindl
Emotional Responses
Focus on the Process Not the Outcome

The Power of the Mind

Golf psychology directs players to control their emotions and frustrations on the course. People believe if they let their emotions out, they release them from their mind. The trouble is, we dwell on the negativity of the past and bring those negative thoughts back when they can hurt our performance. To focus on the positive and forget the negative is not easy to do.

Next time we have a 4-footer or crucial thought, we're more likely to remember the bad event and repeat it. This further reinforces a negative result. Bad play is a learned experience.

You choose not to react to a positive event -- you act cool like this happens all the time. Golf psychologists state that this is whay a positive experience doesn't gain equal prominence in your mind. An emotional outburst will emphasize a negative result in your memory and make it readily available to recall next time. By "being cool" you've given yourself no chance to have the positive result push out the negative. What you are doing is training yourself to focus on the bad experiences. In golf psychology terms, you will have a built-in bias to let negatives creep into our golf game. This will be especially true when the pressure is on -- when an emotional reaction is most likely to occur.

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Emotional Responses

Emotions have the ability to elicit physiological responses. It's true, the mind is programmed not to distinguish between fiction and reality. You can prove this to yourself whenever you watch television. Watch a sad story and it will bring tears to your eyes. It is a dramatization but you feel the same emotions, the same physiological response watching television as if the event were actually happening. Psychologists have tested this. When frightened or nervous your muscles tighten up, your body goes through the same process right down to exerting the same hormonal and chemical responses whether an event happens in real life or if the person is viewing television. Your mind is in charge of your body. How you respond emotionally will affect how well you can respond physically to any given situation, whether it's on a golf course or any other aspect of life.

Golf psychology focuses on how to force the positives to the forefront, Knowledge arms you with awareness. Let negative shots go. Don't dwell, move on. Learn from the experience, be aware of your response and the actions which led to it. Detachment from emotional negativity will prevent the mental storage of a negative result.

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Focus on the Process Not the Outcome

In Jim Fannin's book, Golf in the Zone, he writes about letting go of negative experiences. They are part of what happens in a round of golf. Keep yourself in a state that, in the past, has contributed to positive results. Focus on the process, not the result. Remember past good outcomes in similar situations. Replay them in your mind. Visualization can help train the mind and release the body to execute the proper actions to reach success.

If you hit a good shot or make solid contact with the putter, never mind if the ball went close or went in, the positive act of performing to the best of your ability is what you should focus on. From a golf psychology perspective, you are moving in the right direction. Each positive step takes you closer to your goal of playing to your peak performance. You will become a more consistent and a better golfer.

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